Sanskrit is a repository of unlimited invaluable knowledge of Ancient Indian Heritage. There is an urgent need for knowledge mining from Ancient Sanskrit texts for bridge building between the past and the future through the present. Keeping this in view, a unique research oriented Department of Sanskrit Studies was established in 2006 which will act as an interface between Sanskrit and the sub-fields of the Humanities, Social Science and the Sciences.

Vision Statement:

The Department acts as a platform for a new generation of scholars in Sanskrit and Science to emerge as a world class interdisciplinary teaching and research oriented department.

Mission Statement:

To build bridges between the Ancient Indian knowledge systems and the current knowledge systems.

To explore Ancient Sciences and Technologies with a modern perspective to build alternate viable systems for the future.

To train traditional scholars in order to undertake research in application oriented knowledge mining.

To collect, preserve, and maintain the manuscripts dealing with Ancient Indian Sciences and Technology.

Ph.D. programme

The Department offers a Ph. D. program in Sanskrit Studies. While the present focus of program is in Language Technologies and Ayurveda, the Department encourages research in Sanskrit Studies in other disciplines such as Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, Management, etc. The Ph.D. Program extends over a minimum period of two years from the date of confirmation of admission. The nature of each program is individually decided for each candidate, which will include four courses and a dissertation on an approved topic under the Faculty guidance.

The candidates admitted to Ph.D. programme in the department will be governed by the following rules:

All candidates admitted to Ph.D. in the department, whether full time, part time or external, are required to complete a course work of 4 courses of 4 credits each within a period of 2 year from the date of admission. The admission is provisional which is subject to confirmation on successful completion of the course work.

In case a candidate is unable to pass in all the 4 courses within 2 years, his/ her admission stands automatically cancelled.

Out of the 4 courses, 2 courses are core papers and 2 are elective. The Choice of 2 courses is decided by the Doctoral Research Committee of the candidate concerned from among the list of approved courses by the Departmental Committee. Minimum marks for passing in any course is 50%.

Examinations will be conducted twice a year, i.e., in October/ November and April / May.

On successful completion of the four papers, the provisional admission will be confirmed.

The goal of Language Technologies discipline is to “Train Sanskrit Scholars in the emerging field of Sanskrit Computational Linguistics showing the relevance of traditional śābdabodha theories to the field to computational Linguistics, thus bridging the gap between the past and the present.” During the course, the student will be exposed to the basics of mathematics, statistics, logic, computer programming and NLP in addition to the exposure to the linguistics and strengthening their base of Vyākaraṇa.

The goal of Ayurveda discipline is to conduct literary research in Ayurveda to redefine the concept of 'svāsthya' besides establishing an interdisciplinary dialog between Sanskrit, philosophy and medicine. Students are trained to work on the linguistic aspects of samhitās, contextual interpretations, authenticity of existing translations and encouraged to generate data useful for pre-clinical research, based on original texts.

Entrance Examination:

The entrance examination for Ph.D. consists of two part – 'A' and part 'B'.

Part 'A' consists of 25 objective type questions (25 marks). The questions will be on vyakarna/ linguistics and on general Sanskrit. The purpose of examination will be to test the understanding of concepts rather than mere memorization. There will be negative marking for this part, and 0.33 mark will be deducted for each wrong answer.

Part 'B' will have three sub-sections. The first sub section consists of 10 marks, wherein the candidate has to write a short note on the topic in which he would like to do research, explaining the methodology involved. The second sub-section involves essay type questions (20 marks) to test the aptitude of the candidates for research. The third sub-section consists of 6 short answer type questions (20 marks). The questions in second and third sub-sections are on the topic of specialisation. Student interested in pursuing research in Ayruveda will answer questions related to Ayurveda discipline and those interested in pursuing research in Language technologies will answer questions from Vyakarana, linguistics, NLP, Computational linguistics and Navya Nyaya

Eligibility Criteria:

Ph.D. Sanskrit Studies:

In-take: 1

a) M.A. in Sanskrit or equivalent with at least 55% marks / P.G. Diploma in Sanskrit from a recognized Institution,

and

M.Phil Degree or qualified in UGC JRF/RGNF/MANF/ NET/SET/ SLET OR M.A. in Natural Language Processing / PG Diploma in Computational Linguistics/ PG Diploma in Linguistics/P.G. Diploma in Manuscriptology / Master’s degree with at least 60% marks in any subject with 2 years of teaching experience in a degree college/Two years of teaching or research experience in the subject concerned or closely related area in a University department or recognized institute of higher learning/a minimum of 3 publications in a recognized refereed journal in the subject in which admission is sought.